8ba question

W

whatdoyouwant

Senior Member
I will not bore you with all that I went through with this engine but here is my question. I obtained this engine with a 4" crank, racing pistons, and a 400jr cam. No heads or intake. I put a stock intake and stock 8BA heads on it and promptly bent 15 out of 16 valves. It would sort of run on 5 cylinders. After taking all apart, I find I have sbc valves. The exhaust are 1.5" and the intakes are 1.6". After getting new valves and different heads with more valve pocket clearance, and doing a little modification it is again running. It runs good but I don't like the sound out the exhaust. With the other stuff different to the engine, can I just put in a stock cam? This car will never do more than cruise the streets of town. I forgot, it has adjustable lifters.
 
does it have the exhaust dividers between 2/3 and 6/7? if not put them in and see if that changes the sound. it seems like you have exhaust valve overlap with such a high lift cam
 
If the lope in the exhaust at idle and low speeds is what you don't care for, then yes...install a stock cam. It'll work fine and will idle smooth. The adjustable lifters should accommodate the stock cam.
 
The 400jr is a very good track cam, but it's long duration make it a poor street cam. But the sound is great. Ran one for a few years, worked quite well. Replaced it with the Erson D-410
Gramps
 
If you decide to replace your cam with a stock unit, try to get a Mercury cam (8CM, 0CM, or EAC).

I did and I like everything about it.
 
I agree, ^^^ merc cam is a good stock unit. A little more low end torque as the automatics were coming in, and the merc was a heavy car. A local cam grinder near me
had a bin full of them for me. Barry Cam , Plato Minnesota
 
Back in the day, when pulling into a drive-in, Hot rodders would pull out the choke to achieve that lumpy sound. It made it sound like they had a hot cam.
 
Thanks for all the help. I think I will go with a stock can rather than baffels. Since this is in a 48 Mercury, I will try to find a Merc cam.

al
 
'48 Mercury? I thought this thread was about an 8BA.:confused: If it truly is a '59A, then Ford or Merc cams are the same as far as I know.
 
8CM in my '41 Merc as well. It's a good swap. Mine has the 8CM Merc cam and is perfect for the way I use it. Strong but good manners.
 
I really don't think you could feel the difference between between any of the various 8bA style cams. Compression and carburetion. also have an efect on performance. Personaly I like the EAB cam, But it's the only stock cam I ever used.
G
 
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